Monday, June 18, 2007

Standredbred Loses a Shoe, Stays in Gait, and Sets a New Track Record

Standardbred trotting colt Mythical Lindy, unbeaten in three starts this season, set the track record for 3-year-old trotters with his 1:57.3 triumph from post seven on the half-mile oval at New York's Monticello Park in today’s eliminations for the June 25th Nevele Pride stakes event.

What’s interesting about this colt and his record-breaking time is that he did it after losing his right front shoe at the quarter pole. Not only did he not break gait, which is what usually happens when a horse loses a shoe, but he went on to win the race and break the record.

“He was pretty comfortable the whole way,” driver David Miller said about Mythical Lindy. “He threw a shoe after the first quarter [mile] and I was little worried when it first came off. That was pretty amazing he kept trotting; he didn’t change his gait at all. That really surprised me.”

After next week’s race, Mythical Lindy will continue his march toward August’s $1.5 million Hambletonian, the world’s richest harness race, at The Meadowlands in New Jersey.

Thanks to our friend Anna Svensson of the US Trotting Association for sharing this story. Anna’s husband is Swedish Standardbred specialist farrier Conny Svensson. They live in New Jersey. No, I don’t know if Conny shod Mythical Lindy! Conny is famous for taking shoes off before a horse goes out on the track. He once pulled all four shoes off the famous trotting mare Moni Maker just before a race in France and she set a record of 1:53:2, the fastest mile ever trotted in Europe.